News, notes, and anecdotes on the Fort Wayne TinCaps

Matt Stairs: Life Coach

I’m kind of in a hurry to get out of here, but I feel compelled to share this: I’m not much of a hockey guy. Like baseball, it’s a sport that’s best enjoyed in person, not on TV. With that in mind, the USA-Canada hockey game last night was fantastic. I can’t remember the last time I was that into a game (of any sport) on television. If the NHL had half that intensity for its games, it would be the most successful sports league in America. That includes the NFL, MLB and NBA. I don’t care if nobody in the U.S. understands all the rules (I don’t), but go to a high-school basketball game and estimate how many people know the rules of that sport. When 10 people are in the stands whirling their arms around and yelling about traveling when it’s clearly not, you’ll see what I’m saying.

Also, if there was a National Curling League, wouldn’t you watch it? I know I would.

Monday thoughts:

More curling… Apparently Canadian fans are giving too much of a home-ice advantage. At least they care enough to show up and make noise, even if they’re not supposed to be loud.

“Swing like you live: hard.” – Matt Stairs. This coming from the guy who was coaching multiple high-school sports and lost a ton of weight on NutriSystem over the off-season before the Padres him to sign him. Can we just put him into the Hall of Fame the day he retires? More importantly, can the San Diego writers keep prodding him for soul-baring philosophies on a daily basis? Is “Deep Thoughts with Matt Stairs” the best ad campaign idea of all time? I can’t wait until March 18 when we get to Spring Training and the whole clubhouse is sitting around listening to Stairs in a toga, like Socrates on Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures.

Grady Fuson got a job with the A’s. He was the Padres’ VP of Scouting/Player Development, which means he was in charge of the minor-league system and one of the main guys in charge of the draft. He was let go during the off-season and it didn’t take him long to get back to the A’s, where he worked earlier in his career.

The TinCaps visited City Hall today. I took a camera and remembered that I don’t miss working on the other side of the news media. At all.

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